Instagram hopes 15 seconds will be better than six for social micro-video

Company debuts new micro-video feature with filters, more time, and image stabilization.

The rumors are true—Facebook-owned Instagram will jump into the micro-video service after all. Today at an event at Facebook's Menlo Park campus, the company announced its new "Video on Instagram" service.

Video on Instagram will allow app users to shoot videos anywhere from 3-to-15 seconds long—unlike the mere six seconds of Vine. Video allows for the use of multiple cuts, 13 video-unique filters, and an image stabilization tool called Cinema. (Instagram has a quick explainer video available for that last feature, available for iPhone 4S/5 only.)

"Over the past two and a half years, Instagram has become a community where you can capture and share the world’s moments simply and beautifully," Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom wrote in the service's introductory post. "Some moments, however, need more than a static image to come to life."

Video on Instagram will be available for iOS and Android "on day one," according to Systrom's presentation this morning. Like Instagram images, the videos will live on the Web as well. Instagram posted a small privacy FAQ on Video, which explains that the same privacy settings used for photos can be applied here, though tagging of other users is not currently allowed. According to Wired, Systrom also noted that there are no plans to use any user videos (or photos for that matter) in company advertising in light of last year's terms of service update fiasco.